Attention, Capture of

The ability to capture one’s attention has taken an increasingly central role in social, political, and economic interactions. Technological advancements have facilitated a wealth of information that far exceeds our demand for it. Thus as organizations find capital, information, and knowledge readily available, what is often in short supply is the attention of the target audiences—consumers, voters, and so on. Consider the endless amount of Web sites, services, or entrepreneurial opportunities an individual might utilize. What separates successes from failures is the ability to capture attention and maintain it over time. The business scholars Thomas Davenport and John Beck suggest that an economy of attention lies on two sides of a conceptual equation: How might we organize our own attention in the face of overwhelming ...